Abstract
This essay introduces Afro-rhetorical pedagogy as a decolonial framework for communication pedagogy. Building on Adam Key’s 2022 call for an Applied Africana Studies framework for public speaking pedagogy, this essay conceptualizes Afro-rhetorical pedagogy grounded in Afrocentric thought and African communication theory. Through a close reading of Molefi Kete Asante’s 2011 address on African curriculum, this essay establishes three foundational principles for Afro-rhetorical pedagogy: (a) epistemological agency, (b) decolonized knowledge production, and (c) institutional reconstruction. This pedagogical framework addresses communication education’s reproduction of white cultural hegemony by promoting African-centered principles, practices, and precepts that reposition communication pedagogy as a more liberatory praxis rooted in collective transformation and cultural affirmation.
DOI
10.31446/JCP.2036.1.07
Author ORCID Identifier
Lionnell Smith: 0000-0002-2532-9246
Recommended Citation
Smith, L. (2026). Decolonizing communication pedagogy: Toward an Afro-rhetorical framework. Journal of Communication Pedagogy, 10, 94–111. https://doi.org/10.31446/JCP.2026.1.07
Included in
Africana Studies Commons, Communication Commons, Education Commons
